It doesn't matter how, only that you win: Craig Anderson on 3-2 victory over Sabres

This time of year, said Craig Anderson, the Senators will take the wins any way they come.

“At this point, we’ll take the two points,” he said.
“At this point of the year, that’s all that matters.
“You have to win games. They don’t ask how. You’ve just got to get the job done, and we got the job done, and that’s the bottom line. We played well enough to win.
“We get a quick goal in the third to make it 2-0, and then I think maybe they turned up the intensity a little bit, and they started to play a little better.
“We weathered it for the most part. Give them credit. They worked hard and they were able to get a couple of goals there.
“But we found a way to win, and at this point in the year, that’s all that matters.”

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Paul MacLean never had any doubt that Milan Michalek would start scoring again but never questioned his effort.

“We knew there’s still lots of goals left in (Michalek),” said MacLean. “It’s taken a long time to get them to come out this year.
“But the work ethic, and his play without the puck, and his abilities on the penalty kill, there’s never been a question about his contributions to the team. Great teammate and player. We knew if he just stayed with it that good things would happen for him.”

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With one game left, on Saturday in Boston against the Bruins, MacLean said it’ll be easy to motivate the Senators.

“We’ll just tell them to look at the standings, and take it from there.” he said.

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Michalek said the Senators were guilty of taking their foot off the gas

“We had lots of chances to put the game away, then we came out in the third and we kind of let up and they scored two goals. These games are the toughest to play because they have nothing to lose, so we are happy we won tonight.
“It was a very important game, so we were happy to get the two points and we’ll go from here.
“Now we have one game before the break and we want to get the two points, but it’s going to be a tough game in Boston, so we have to be ready for that.”

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With his deft pass 10 seconds into the third period Jason Spezza didn’t know that he was helping Michalek break his record for the fastest goal from the start of a period.

“I would have shot it if I knew that,” joked Spezza.
“But at least I’m still involved with it.”

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Spezza agreed with his teammates that it didn’t matter how they won, as long as they did.

“We’re played enough games where we’ve probably deserved to win and lost, so tonight we’ll take the win,” he said.
“We played a good game, we just let it slip away, and then to get that goal was a big one – a great shot by (Michalek).
“He’s a hard worker. He’s a consummate professional. He comes to the rink every day and puts in his time.
“Now he’s got a few goals and I think he’s going to get some confidence from it. It’s tough when you’re used to scoring goals and you’re not producing.”